JJ's. I bought a new set and swapped out the Mesa Tubes it came with. The problem is, I bought it on eBay and have no idea how old they were. So, I'm going to put the Mesa Tubes back in and try it out, since everyone seems to hate JJ's.

Click to expand...

they come with JJ's

I have all JJ's (euro tubes custom set) in mine except for V1 where I have a tung sol . The tuing sol in v1 is an awesome cheap mod for a recto. makes a huge difference to the tone

I have all JJ's (euro tubes custom set) in mine except for V1 where I have a tung sol . The tuing sol in v1 is an awesome cheap mod for a recto. makes a huge difference to the tone

Click to expand...

Are you sure they come with JJs? Why wouldn't Mesa ship their own tubes in their heads? They seem to be really serious about their equipment, I couldn't imagine they would use something they didn't make themselves. But hey, I don't know.

For a long time here, the very first thing everyone was told upon buying a Recto was "read the manual". People who make your complaints usually don't know how the Mesa tone stack/gain/mode interactions work. You CAN make one sound like shit if you don't know what you're doing.

Click to expand...

I don't know if this is directed at me or not, but I did read the manual, a lot. I did state it a few times. I just don't know what exactly I'm doing. It's a lot more nuanced than everything I'm used to. Just looking for suggestions on how to make this thing meet its full potential.

Are you sure they come with JJs? Why wouldn't Mesa ship their own tubes in their heads? They seem to be really serious about their equipment, I couldn't imagine they would use something they didn't make themselves. But hey, I don't know.

Click to expand...

Yeah. Mesa dont make tubes. they get JJ's and rebrand em .

JJ's are good quality tubes. some people find they can be dark in Mesa rectfiers especially in V1. I changed mine to a tung sol cause i was curious and it cost $15 . and I have to agree it sounds more hi fi without the JJ in V1

oh and mesa recto tone controls dont work like other amps . its a different type of cascading set up . the higher an earlier tone control is the less the knobs after it work . I believe its ,from 1st to last

gain, treble, mid, bass

so if you run the gain super high all the knobs after it will do allot less

I'm not quite sure about how exactly you are running your cabs, but have you tried it without the 4x10 yet? That seems like it could definitely cause a problem. If you get a chance, try it with a v30 loaded cab. Mesas seem to be designed for v30's so they will probably sound best.

JJ's are good quality tubes. some people find they can be dark in Mesa rectfiers especially in V1. I changed mine to a tung sol cause i was curious and it cost $15 . and I have to agree it sounds more hi fi without the JJ in V1

oh and mesa recto tone controls dont work like other amps . its a different type of cascading set up . the higher an earlier tone control is the less the knobs after it work . I believe its ,from 1st to last

gain, treble, mid, bass

so if you run the gain super high all the knobs after it will do allot less

Click to expand...

Yelp, I called them awhile back and they told me the same (all their tubes are currently comming from JJ, but haven't always came from JJ)
I run that spax7 (jj) in V1 for slightly less hum/feedback/microphonics under higher gain. They are just the ones that tested most noise resistant.

As a fellow Triple Rectifier owner I'll first cover the important points to this amp:
1) The Triple Rectifier is a VERY loose sounding amp, but netherless it is very BIG sounding. With that said, the MT2 or pocket pod you mentioned, they are very tight sounding which is the complete opposite of what a TR would be. There are ways you can make it sound tight (which sounds to me... is what you are looking for out of the TR, or what makes it "sound good" for you), then you can set the TS9 as a clean boost, such as max out level and set gain to 0 and tone adjust to your liking,

2) Equalizer. This amp unlike most other amps utilizes an EQ such that each knob affects the other knob. In other words, what you see on the knobs is probably not what you are getting unless you have everything set to Noon (neutral). You will have to refer to the manual but what basically happens is gain will affect (volume, treble, middle, bass, presence), and volume will affect (treble, middle, bass, presense) and so on... so there is a priority, when you turn gain up, all the other controls will be rolled back. The order of this is gain->volume->treble->middle->bass->presence.

3) Gain knob. I think its useful to mention this knob as its own section. The gain is the highest priority, therefore it is useful to see how this works. In channel 2 modern, with the gain max its almost like channel 3 modern, with gain 3/10. Therefore, this might be what you are experiencing as having too much gain which goes in conflict with the EQ and makes your amp sound pretty nasty.

4) Experiment and Time. It's a HARD amp to dial in, especially for the first time. As everything mentioned above, it is easy to see why, as its very different from most other amps. Do note, the 3 channel recto is even harder to dial in than the 2 channel recto (which is what ola demo'ed). But Ola can make any amp (except for the Line 6 spider iii ) sound godlike.

5) Tightness. As you found out, you need it on BOLD and Silicon for the maximum tightness to get even close to what you were expecting from the pod and formula pre. What you can further do is the TS9 mentioned. However, what you hear in Ola's video has a lot to do with how he set up the microphone. Rectos being mic'ed up is VERY different than playing through speakers and you sitting a meter away. That's just the nature of a recto.

6) Presence and Treble. This also requires a seperate section as a lot of people like to roll off on the treble and use the presence as a treble control. As you know the recto has this weird fuzz going on, which can be addicting for some, but some people don't really care for it. So that's another tip to tame the sound. This makes a HUGE difference.

What I'm trying to say in all these tips are, you need time and experiemnt and further... you need to understand the recto. It was unwise of you to buy and invest in an amp for THAT MUCH money to not play it first. But now you got it, might as well spend lots of time to get a good tone

To get you started, here's my tone for a band setting. It gives you plenty to cut-thru but still leaves you a HUGE chugging power. I have a 2 channel recto, but it'll be similar to your channel 2.
MXR GT-OD (or your TS9): Gain-ZERO,Volume-MAX,Tone-12o'clock
Channel 2 Recto (Bold/silicon): Gain- 12o'clock, Treble- 12o'clock, Mid- 2 or 3o'clock, Bass- 11o'clock, Presence- 10o'clock
Master volume- 12o'clock (adjust accordingly)

I know exactly what I'm talking about, I've played a duel and triple rec, it's just not my cup of tea. I found it not to have any mid range at all and the gain was real muddy with not much clarity.

Click to expand...

Hey Genius, there's a middle knob. Use it.

And clearly from this post and your previous posts, you have NO idea what you are talking about. I'm not trying to pick a fight, but you should get your information correct before telling people. I feel the OP is confused as hell and your comments are not helping.

I don't know if this is directed at me or not, but I did read the manual, a lot. I did state it a few times. I just don't know what exactly I'm doing. It's a lot more nuanced than everything I'm used to. Just looking for suggestions on how to make this thing meet its full potential.

If it's not directed at me, well then....I've read the manual.

Click to expand...

Nah, that was directed at the guy who said they couldn't get a good, clear distortion tone. In most cases, people who say that don't understand how the Mesa EQ stack works.

Not quite, but red starts at about 1:00 on the presence knob for orange, IIRC. I use the red channel for rhythm playing, but the presence is at about 8:00, i.e. almost off.

Click to expand...

I use the Presence about 8-9 oclock on the red channel also.

I typically use the orange channel for clean. It kind of annoys me for gain sounds because there are some mid frequencies in there that sound like beating a cardboard box with a stick. Drives me nuts. This sound goes away with some volume, but that is pretty loud for home.

My opinion of duel and triple rectifiers are that they have muddy gain, little to no mid range and not that much punch. My suggestions would be to try a new head or, if you're really into the Mesa tone, get a tube screamer to give you more gain and punch. Also make sure you have active pickups. I personally love peavey 5150's because they are loud with lots of gain and a ton of mid range, hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Your opinion doesn't matter for jack shit, since he wasn't asking your opinion. He was asking how to get his rig to work.

Your opinion doesn't matter for jack shit, since he wasn't asking your opinion. He was asking how to get his rig to work.

Click to expand...

Whoa, cool it tough guy. I understand, you guys like rectifier heads. The gentleman needs help with his rig, my suggestion was to use a tube screamer or try a new head. I never once said that rectifier heads are garbage or they suck. I simply said that you can't get a nice, clear heavy distortion tone without certain tubes or the head being modded, mainly because, it has no mid range. On the flip side, duel and triple recs have an excellent clean channel with a nice full, warm tone. I've played these, I know gear, this amp is simply not my thing, so why the hostility?